Smooth rides on Metro

By
Joel Cohen, Arlington

Metro receives a lot of criticism on the editorial pages, much of it deserved. But all too often the system doesn’t receive praise when it performs well. Over the past five months, I have experienced the consequences of two major closures over holiday weekends: one over Labor Day weekend, when the system closed three stations on the Red Line, and one over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, when the Foggy Bottom Metro station was closed.

Both times I expected the worst. But to my surprise, both times the system effectively communicated the closures weeks in advance, giving frequent riders sufficient time to make alternate plans. There were more than enough buses to shuttle passengers between stations, and although the bus ride added about a half-hour to my travel time over those two weekends, Metro made the process seamless.

Everywhere you looked, Metro employees were helping confused riders, informative signs were pointing passengers in the right direction, frequent passengers were helping confused tourists, and everyone was working together to make the closures bearable.

No offense, but why a half hour? Surely one can walk from Farragut West to Foggy Bottom Metro in ten minutes or so? I'd certainly much rather do so than crowd onto a bus for probably the same amount of time, counting loading time and traffic lights.